Mixed Reality is the surreal blend of the digital and the real world. From its use in the healthcare industry to its applications in providing hands-on learning in the education sector, Augmented Reality (AR) has transformed our lives. On the 7th of July, Dr. Shivakumar Sastry, Professor at the University of Akron, OH, USA, enlightened students about the vast world of Augmented Reality with the talk centered on its applications in space technology. With his research work at the Glenn Research Center, NASA, he shared his experience of building an AR system for astronauts for completion of a sequence of tasks during spacewalks. He provided a demo simulation of such a system using Microsoft’s HoloLens to the attendees. The demo program enabled users to monitor and control a space craft’s subsystem using the HoloLens’ voice automated, holographic imaging technology.
On the 14th of July, CIE in collaboration with Xinova conducted an innovation brainstorm session on the theme – “Personalized services for the totally connected car”. Xinova seeked inventive ideas on emotion based personalized services and application for the connected car that capitalize on the capabilities coming from future generations of communication technologies like 5G wireless communications that will enable the totally connected car. Participants were introduced to the capabilities of a connected car and were given a brief overview of the problem statement and background. Participants ideated and pitched their ideas to a panel from Xinova who judged their ideas and provided feedback. Promising ideas will be taken further in collaboration with Honda and Xinova.
As part of the Saturday meet-up on 21st of July, a session on “Introduction to prototyping” was conducted. It was the first skill-based meetup. The event had 6 participants. CIE interns Vishwas and Parthan conducted the meetup.
The first hour of the session had Vishwas introducing the world of prototyping by explaining “Why? When? And how to prototype?”. The different 3D printing techniques and the varied materials used in 3D printers were briefly explained.
Following the explanatory session was the hands-on-session on Fusion 360 software, which is a cloud-based 3D modelling software, used for Rapid Prototyping. This particular software was considered due to the ease of use for students without a 3d modelling background. This was a 2.5-hour session and was conducted by Parthan. The aim of the hands-on session was to build a 3D model of a lampshade. The objective was to understand the basic tools in the software to build, sculpt and render the model.
Few takeaways from the session were: –